Cheers to 2011, well almost... - 28 Nov 2011

Can you believe its almost 2012? The year has just about come to an end and with that we have several more daily newsletters still to be delivered to you.

In Malawi, journalists were threatened at a 'press rally' following the return of the president from a trip to Hong Kong. In a turn of events, journalists had to ask police to protect them after party officials wanted to turn violent.

Earlier this month, the Malawi Communication Regulatory Authority (MACRA) held meetings with the media to explain to them how the Consolidated ICT Regulatory Management System (CIRMS) would operate. Early last week, telecommunication operators hit back at MACRA and warned people about the system. MACRA's response was that the equipment will not be used as a surveillance machine, but rather as a way to investigating tariff fraud amongst other things.

In my column 'Don't become a victim of cybercrime', I brought up the issue of cybercrime as it emerged to be on the increase and vulnerable groups were being targeted. Media attention given to such acts, may have finally woken up people to the possibility that social networks can be a dangerous place. With the16 Days of Activism campaign which started on 25 November 2011 and continues to 10 December, cybercrime can be reduced with the help of media.

In other news, Richard Porter, the head of BBC global news, recently visited South Africa for a conference on broadcasting, Gill Moodie interviewed him and we could learn a few lessons in media change from him.

Here's to a good week!

Evan-Lee Courie (@evan1985)

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